20 month update

Sulley Likes: cheese, avocado, LOVES milk, lunch meat, goldfish, most fruits, climbing on everything, taking toys from her brother, pulling ornaments off the tree, dancing, wearing shoes and taking them off, reading books, playing in the bath tub, playing outside with her wagon. she's also really trying to say words such as juice, cheese, apple, banana (which is more like blahblahblah), shoes, dog, woof, oh and most recently, "stinks" as in 'the stink's in her pants. yup, classy one- thanks dad.

Colton likes: hashbrowns, milkshakes, ALL fruit, juice, cheerios, goldfish, cheese crackers, waffles, climbing, taking ornaments off the tree, his paci, television, banging objects together like cymbals or just on the furniture, the wagon, playing in the tub, looking at books, and throwing balls. His vocabulary isn't as good as Sulley's but he manages to say a few words like "moo", dog, woof, tree, etc.

Santa

What's with the big guy in the red suit with a trucker 'stache and (almost) zz top beard?
i'd be scared too!

Real Fans

big D again

if only Big D knew i was playing with his blackberry.....

chillin with my homie

typical look these days - due to waterfalls of boogers...

who knew? water bottles - the most fun toy of them all.

last years' hat again? so not trendy for 19 month olds

Big D

Thanksgiving was fun with my parents around. We had a wonderful dinner with my parents and all of the Allen clan kids/parents/inlaws/grandparents. Does that make sense?

Anyways, one of colton's favorite things was just being able to hang out with Grandpa Beard -- I think BIG D is the name we'll give him.... Dad/Big D and colton had lots of fun rough housing and playing ball.

my daughter

all in the name of silly - i mean SULLEY

Jimmy Dean, you're my hero

as the thanksgiving holiday is approaching, we're all starting to get extra hungry...especially colton. im starting to count the minutes until we all sit down and stuff ourselves till we're full. everyone has their favorite foods and those certain dishes they are excited for. me -- i have a couple. greg CAN NOT WAIT to eat the white rice with his turkey and gravy!

one of my favorite thanksgiving holiday foods besides the turkey is the dressin! CORNBREAD and SAUSAGE dressin. pretty much all my favorite thanksgiving holiday foods involve sausage - jimmy dean to be exact. i guess that what happens when you grow up in the south.

id also like to remind you that no holiday is complete without sausage cheese balls. i didnt grow up in a family that spent a lot of time or effort on pre-holiday dinner snacks but one thing was certain -- while there probably wasn't any brie en croute, we did manage to have sausage cheese balls... oh how those little scrumptious balls of cheese, bisquick, and sausage (grease) can make you feel so warm and cozy on the inside...especially when paired with a bourbon and coke.

im fairly certain sulley will gobble them up in true sulley style -- you know---shove as many as she can in her mouth and then have to spit some out to make room to chew them up.

early sundays

Is their any money in dad's wallet? i want doughnuts!

i went to krispy kreme and all i got was this annoying hat and one chocolate iced glazed doughnut

whaaat happened? is their anything left in this bag?

i guess i'll share one last bite with dad....

a day at the park with the drennans

we took full advantage of the gorgeous weather this weekend and spent both days playing outside. on saturday, we spent the afternoon with the drennans at the park...

WEEEEEEEE!

i just love the park

peekaboo!

our attempt at getting a shot of the kids in matching "vail" fleeces but as you can see, sulley just wanted to go swing..

when she's not on top of the table dumping out salt, going through my purse, or dumping water over, sulley likes to sit at the table like a big girl.

shoes

one of sulley's latest obsessions is trying to walk around in shoes...

Halloween

our jack-0-lantern that got 'jacked' (and im not kidding either)

Raggedy Andy

Raggedy Ann and Andy

Our first Halloween in our new neighborhood was a blast! We enjoyed meeting many of our fellow North Arlington neighbors at a neighborhood Halloween parade and cookout. The costumes were a hit! Thanks to gigi, who made them from scratch! We're already planning costumes for next year!

Halloween Eve

Megan, Leslie, and I cohosted the Halloween party for all the little munchkins. The "mummy and me" party was a success! Of course it was chaotic but it was a great way to end October and a fun way to spend a friday afternoon, in anticipation of a fun, halloween weekend!

Daniele and Harper

Megan and Connelly

Mummies!

a haircut and dum dums too!

Sulley enjoying a dum dum after Colton's haircut

this look is a little more stylish than my old mop

fun before bed

More cheese (crackers) please

In our house, meal time has become one of the most annoying times for us...probably because we have one picky eater and one child who will eat anything!! Food with kids is always very hot and cold -- one day they love hamburgers, the next they wont touch them. one week they'll eat waffles every morning, the next week they gag when you put them on their tray. One constant though is CHEESE. shocker. because both families LOVE cheese so the kids were naturally expected to chow down.

last weekend, grandad allen gave sulley 6 pieces of cheese with her dinner and she ate everyone of them. some how i think it was just an excuse for grandad to also have six pieces of cheese himself ;)

both kids LOVE their grilled cheese.

both kids used to love mac n cheese.

both love GOLDFISH

but more recently, thanks to our friends, we've discovered the trader joes mini cheese sandwich crackers or otherwise known as ritz bitz cheese sandwiches. it's hiliarious watching sulley and colton shove as many crackers in their mouth as they can... having one fist full of more crackers, and the other free hand is digging for more. BUT if you know my kids, you know that at least a third of these crackers will somehow 'fall' out of their mouth and end up on the floor... or sometimes one will inhale a cracker and then it all comes up!

FREE AT LAST!

Sometimes i keep my kids caged up inside all day....or cooped up in their stroller. i guess they've had enough of the walks or trips to target, harris teeter, and trader joes.

is it bad that colton and sulley stand at the front door, trying their hardest to open the door to get outside?

i guess i should take a hint.

now that the kids have become mobile, we've been trying to spend more time outside but it too has it's challenges, especially when the area you're playing is not fenced. If it's not the temperature outside - it's the bugs. if it's not the bugs, then it's not a good time to the head to the park. there is always a reason not go outside. Since most of the 'skeeters are gone and it's not sweltering hot, i imagine we'll spend most of the fall afternoons outside until it's too cold and i have to put my kids back in their cages. sad, i know. i guess this means more time inside with friends and more time spent exploring indoor play areas. more yo gabba gabba? let's just hope they have some new episodes.

Rocktober

It's hard to believe that October is already here!! We've begun the month with a bang - welcoming a new nephew/cousin Reece, born Oct 2nd!! We're waiting on yet another new nephew/cousin that's due any day....and also are waiting on the arrival of a few new friends that are due this month too! We've participated in some fun fall activities, like visiting a local farm in Maryland and taking a wagon ride around the historic grounds. We're looking forward to visiting the pumpkin patch in the coming weeks and promise to snap plenty of pics of the kids nestled amongst the pumpkins.

We've celebrated one birthday thus far, run a 10 miler, and will celebrate a wedding this weekend. We'll finish out the month with more more birthdays, another run (10k this time), and also Halloween! Whew!

In other news, the kids keep passing germs and are constantly battling the sniffles. Tis the season! Sulley's continuing to try and spit out words but it mostly comes across and one big jumble. Colton continues to work on walking and also talks some jibberish. Both kids are enjoying stacking blocks, toys, and other miscellaneous items. They're also becoming pros at not napping in the morning.

Sulley has found a favorite fall past time - collecting acorns! If you're quick enough, you may spot her occasionally nibbling on a select few acorns...which im sure is a great source of fiber!

Rowan Reece Anders

Colton and Sulley have a new cousin - Rowan Reece Anders, born Friday Oct 3rd! Wahoo, he's precious! Congrats to Elisabeth and Jason! We can't wait to meet him!!

downward - facing dog? bonnie blair?

not really sure where sulley learned this because neither greg nor i are yoga people. just another one of her funny quirks. sulley also loves to squat and throw her arms behind her - ie speed skater style. bt colton and sulley and their flexibility and literal monkey business, i swear we have olympians on our hands.

Goodbye Summer, Hello Fall

We just got home from one last vacation of the summer - a week at Nags Head! We had so much fun - great weather, fantastic food, wonderful company, and most importantly - the kids did fantastic. 6.5 kids all under the age of 2 (and the 'half' a kid = jud and ing's #2 due soon).

We tried to snap some fun pics but as you know, it's not so easy to get everyone to sit still!

the slaves to our pictures

matching madras

We had a little added bonus at the end of our trip - On the way home, greg and i and kids stopped in Va Beach to visit with friends Kari and Ron. It was nice to be able to catch up and also celebrate Price's 1st birthday!!

The Easley Family

It's officially time to pack away the lilly dresses, swim suits, and sandals!

Goodbye summer, hello fall!

The Latest Fall Fashion Accessory

In case you haven't heard, the latest fall fashion accessory seen recently at the NY Fashion week, is FOOD ON YOUR HEAD. leave it to sulley to show us how to glam up a basic, comfortable, look for fall. White t-shirts adorned with food, snotty noses, minimal makeup, and whispy/carefree hair, all compliment this new style in hair adornment.

Peek a boo

first day of Mother's Day Out

I signed Colton and Sulley up for a Mother's Day Out Program at a local church. it's only one day a week for 3 hours but it's better than nothing. it's set up sorta like a co-op so i'll be 'working' 3x a year -- not bad. any who's, our first day was this past thursday and i of course had to work. we tried to snap a few pics before heading over to 'school' but it didnt work so well. hopefully, in five years when we're trying to do this before kindergarten, we'll get some better shots; but for now, colton and sulley could have cared less.

Sulley and her school bag

wow, what a great shot.

big boy and big girl shoes

colton and sulley moonlight on the side as foot models for stride rite. check out their new shoes in the pics above!